Gillette Pulls RFID Tags In UK Amid Protests 376
akb writes "Indymedia UK is reporting that after protests against the trial of RFID tags by Gillette at a Tesco store in Cambridge, increasing press coverage, a boycott, and the growing mobilisation of campaigners against the intrusive use of the technology, Gillette have withdrawn their trial. RFID (Radio Frequency ID) tags are small tags containing a microchip which can be 'read' by radio sensors over short distances (for background see SchNEWS Feature / 2 part Guardian Article)."
Re:RFIDs are Meaningless (Score:1, Informative)
Re:RFIDs are Meaningless (Score:3, Informative)
In the case of manufacturer applied RFID tags to packaged items the tags may be inside the packaging (to prevent instore removal) and the entire package must be disposed of to "remove" the tags. This could be an issue for "Malling."
On the flip side they're pretty easy to disable, don't last long, and put out a pretty weak signal to begin with.
KFG
Re:RFIDs are Meaningless (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Are there any good uses? (Score:5, Informative)
I've also heard it used to track railway carriages at high speed as they pass through freight yards, so that freight companies can track which containers are on what train in what order. These uses don't infringe any civil liberties, and are very useful for companies in either of these fields. RFID tech can be misused, but like most things it can be used in a socially responsible and beneficial way too.
Re:protest (Score:5, Informative)
Now if you presume that readers range will increase dramatically and the costs will plummet then it's an issue. I'm not sure that's going to happen, though... from what I understand getting an RFID reader that could read a tiny tag on your stereo through your walls is, at this moment, more science-fiction than the space elevator.
RFID good use examp: Taipei Public transport cards (Score:5, Informative)
Amazingly convinient; just wave your wallet next to the sensor and you can pass through. Don't need to bother about getting the actual card out; so they get points for cool technology value.
Made out of durable plastic the cards can be "recharged" when they run out of value saving on waste.
Oh, and you buy them by tossing some coins into a machine (no need for a DNA sample)
Still can't use them to buy soda or anything else..
Re:Are there any good uses? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Are there any good uses? (Score:1, Informative)
As things are now, books not being completely free to print, the library just has to know who borrows their books (in order to get them back, you know!
If I'm afraid of my reading habits being logged and used against me? Naah....Got a good line for them when they come to get me:
"I will not be pushed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered." -- Number Six
Re:I can think of one - access control (Score:3, Informative)
It's an amazing system. When you walk near the door of a FedEx building, you simply wave your proxy card near (..within the "proximity" of..) the reader.
Sorry, but this is not a RFID card as people are talking about. The problem with RFID cards is that they can be modified after they are put in place. For example, the store can update the chip the moment you walk out of the store, to contain the excat time, location and idendity of the buyer. That information can then be extracted later by recycling companies, and sold back to whoever wants to pay for it.
Your card has just a pair of capacitors that respond the the frequency sent out by the "red eye in the wall" you swipe your card in front of. Just like the anti-theft systems in use everywhere.
Re:Are there any good uses? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Are there any good uses? (Score:4, Informative)
Yes. When I was a student I did some vac. work for a company that manufactures RFID tags. They aren't the like the very small tags used by gillette, but are bigger and have much more range (30m). Some of the things we used them for:
There are hundreds of ways to use tags in a good way, you can tag the product, but do not make a link between the product and the person that buys it.
Reading Lessons - Ten Bucks only! (Score:2, Informative)
This is the "don't remove tag from mattress law" all over again! RETAILERS may not tamper with the chip, in the same way they can't remove the "made in China by slave labour" tags or sew on fake "Levi's" labels. CONSUMERS can do what the hell they want with the devices once they have purchased the goods. Sheesh!
Re:Are there any good uses? (Score:5, Informative)
This reduces wear and tear on tickets (and hence makes good sense environmentally -- no more millions of paper tickets daily) and is also a hell of a lot quicker. Plus, if you lose the card, they simply invalidate that card and give you a new one with the same virtual ticket on it. Since an annual ticket can be worth nearly 1000 (about US$1500) a way to avoid losing your travelcard is great!
I love this use of RFID; my oystercard gets delivered today :-)
Already illegal in UK (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Are there any good uses? (Score:2, Informative)
Frankly, that's the way it should be. Most stores don't check bags, feel free to shop there if you disagree.
Not true... most RFIDs are one-way devices (Score:3, Informative)
>to contain the excat time, location and idendity of the buyer
Not according to most of the information currently available about RFIDs. Most of them are merely a passive device that can only actively transmit its serial number, and only its serial number. What's done with that serial number is up to the system that queries it, and it could certainly tie together the purchaser's information and the RFID serial numbers of goods purchased, but that's merely database magic, not RFID technology.
Actually it's much more likely that the FedEx card in the parent post has active data storage, than any run-of-the-mill grain-of-sand RFID.
The RFIDs envisioned to be used for tagging goods are as simple as possible, to make them as cheap as possible. At least at this time, nobody's proposing what I'd call "smart" RFIDs for marketable goods.
On the other hand, RFID manufacturers are implementing (at least in some chips) the ability to self-deactivate - something of a self-destruct code. But that does not require any storage memory, just the ability to short out a circuit on command.
So while this is POSSIBLE, nobody is proposing it at this time. This post seems to be a bit hyper-conspiracy-theory oriented.
Please explain the problem to me (Score:3, Informative)
Let me start by laying out what I know about RFID chips/tags:
1. they have a transmission range measured in inches, to a maximum of a few feet
2. they require a specialized unit to send out the RF pulse that "activates" and reads the tag
3. the information stored in them is generally programmed at manufacture. (there are r/w tags, but they seem about as useful as putting the bar-code or price on a label with a pencil)
4. reading the RFIDs in bulk is a tenuous affair at best and certainly expensive.
Specifically regarding #1, I can't locate any exact numbers for range, all the companies just say "short, medium or long" range. But the examples they give seem to represent that even "long range" is highly relative and still means only 2 to 4 feet, perhaps as much as 10 feet. In a retail situation the range would probably need to be two feet or less.
So given that information, I can't begin to figure out what everyone is so upset about regarding the use of RFIDs in retail items. They don't enable anything you can't do already, they just make it faster and more reliable. They don't store any personal information, they can't be read in bulk from any significant distance.
What do these tags represent that is so heinous that public demonstrations are called for to prevent their use?
This will be the third (I recall) time I've tried to have a reasonable discussion about this, and am hoping this time I'll get something more than FUD back. Please state your reasons in a clear, legible hand. I promise to read them all . The winner wil go back to K-PAX with me.
Re:Not true... most RFIDs are one-way devices (Score:3, Informative)
I think when they realized we weren't even close to paying the price they were then asking for "static" tags they dropped the idea altogether.
Hooray! (Score:4, Informative)
I can see where all of this is going. This truly is heading to the mall scene in Minority Report.
BUT IT JUST GETS EVEN WORSE...
So you walk past a sensor in the mall wearing a pair of jeans with a RFID so small that you can't find it and never will, and all of the sudden you have an ad popping up for whatever market they sell your jeans to.
Better yet, when someone commits a heinous crime in that mall, a lot of sensors will have a record of the type of jeans and shirt anyone, including a criminal was wearing leaving a crime scene. HOW WONDERFUL! Imagine what happens when you are in the neighborhood wearing the same or similar tennis shoes and jeans combo! Regardless of who you are, the cops are going to come and question you! Probably take you downtown for a little questioning. Screw with your life for a bit. Shake you around. INSTANT PROBABLE CAUSE... after all "he was in the same area a few days later wearing the same type of jeans and shoes, your honor. And we have a homicide that is unsolved in the area."
Suddenly, you get busted for a crime you didn't commit!
You may call me a paranoiac but remember all of those people that have been in prison all of those years that have DNA evidence that conclusively proves that they weren't rapists. Trust me, there is nothing out of bounds that a cop will use to solve a murder case. NOTHING. That is not what a cop does. A cop hunts out crime. If he slaps cuffs on the wrong man, well, that is the court's responsibility to make sure it was the wrong guy, not the cop's responsibility. Also, cops do a little game called "courting you to death," like if you piss them off giving you a court summons (costing you hundreds of dollars) for a parking ticket, and messing with your life in a court appearance. You really don't want to defend yourself in a 'you vs. the cop' situation. It never, ever works. Most are good, but jerks are the ones that give me the willies.
Remember when cops were using thermal imaging guns to look into people's houses and checking electric bills to see if they were creating illegal grow operations? Think about it. THIS IS PROFILING HEAVEN. MORE DATA MEANS MORE PROFILING. The best part, you can't find out that they are profiling you. The cops pull you over for a bad turn signal, when all the while they are looking for a couple of key things, like the perfectly legal ammo you just bought at the gun store to take back to your ranch. Argue with them? GO TO JAIL. OR GO TO COURT AND PAY COSTS AND WASTE YOUR TIME.
It is not a matter of if this technology will be abused, it is simply a matter of when. You should look at history to see that. Evidence of it is everywhere even in the most polite societies.
How soon will it be after this stuff that some corporation starts walking people through your neighborhood with directional transmitters and antennas, and when you buy a Papa John's pizza, the next two days a Pizza Hut coupon is pinned to your front door or comes in your mailbox? Corporations are are not going to worry about the ethics of what they are doing. They are simply going to do them to sell you more pizza near their store to cut costs and sell more. It is now just going to make this world full of PHYSICAL SPAM.
Trust me, when the person in the mall with the clipboard seeks you out and says that she has a product that is better than the one you just purchased and is sitting in your bag, YOU'LL HATE IT. Either way, they'll be grifting your data... and you'll be paying for it.
If you hate it when Radio Shack asks you your fucking address when you buy a coax cable, then you'll really, really love what is around the corner.
Re:RFID in European Banknotes by 2005 (Score:3, Informative)
I just read an article which states the European Central Bank are quietly planning on introducing RFID in all european bank notes by 2005. Bang goes the anonimity afforded by cash transactions.
Why? The RFID tag is keyed to the money, not to you. I'd imagine the tag, if scanned, will respond that it's a 10-euro (or whatever), serial number BlahBlahBlah. It can't also respond "Psst! Hey, coppers! I'm being used to buy a dime bag!"...
Blocking RFID (Score:2, Informative)
I don't know how many of you know how RFID works, so i'll try to explain (yes, IAAEE, I Am An Electrical Engineer).
Basicly a RFID scanner works by transmitting a certain frequency (125Khz is very common). The tag has a L/C (coil-capacitor) ciruit tuned to this frequency. It uses energy from the circuit to power a tiny circuit (that's how it can work without a battery), which will then send it's stored code. It sends the information back to the scanner by effectively shorting out it's receiver circuit. Doing so drains more energy from the transmitter circuit on the scanner, which can be measured and so the code that the tag send can be decoded.
Now a couple of ideas on how to block it:
- block the scanner by transmitting the same frequency at a highly varying output level. This makes it effectively impossible to measure the tag shorting out it's receiver circuit, because of the heavy fluctuation in the field strength.
- use a microcontroller to send random codes. If enough people do this, the database will get stuffed with false information and will eventually be useless.
- fry the tags in your stuff, EMP-style. I think it would be possible to break the little circuit by placing the tag inside the transmitter coil of a powerfull (but very simple) oscillator running at 125kHz.